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Upgrade Facilitates Seamless Communication and Exchange of Digital Media Among National Archives and Flagship SBC Radio Stations

CLARET, France — Sept. 7, 2015 — NETIA today announced that Saudi Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) has upgraded the NETIA Radio-Assist™ radio automation suite used by the kingdom’s national audio archives. SBC is a governmental entity of Saudi Arabia, organized under the Ministry of Culture and Information. SBC worked with one of NETIA’s area partner, First Gulf Company, to upgrade its existing systems to Radio-Assist 8.2 and to leverage the software to facilitate the smooth exchange of content between the national archives facility and SBC’s two flagship radio stations, Radio Riyadh and Radio Jeddah.

“We have developed a strong relationship with NETIA and a familiarity with the company’s automation software that give us confidence in using Radio-Assist to enable ongoing expansion of Saudi Arabia’s digital media archives,” said Naim Saidi, CEO at First Gulf Company. “With this latest extension of NETIA software, we have improved the ease and speed with which various SBC sites can access and work with media. Convenient sharing of assets across these sites ultimately will enable SBC to be more efficient in preserving and repurposing unique media assets reflecting the kingdom’s rich heritage.”

SBC began working with NETIA in 2003, when it worked with several partners including Jamal Jaroudi Group and BFE to install Radio-Assist at Radio Riyadh and Radio Jeddah, and later in 2008 with First Gulf Company at the national archives. The installation at the National Archives supported the migration of archived tapes to digital and, in turn, facilitated the restoration, preservation, and repurposing of historical assets that might otherwise have been lost. In 2012, SBC together with First Gulf Company deployed the NETIA radio automation suite at three additional regional sites: Jizan, Hail, and Tabuk.

Now, with the upgrade to Radio-Assist 8.2, SBC and First Gulf Company have integrated the NETIA software with a new HSM system and management interface to centralize audio and video assets and make them available to users working at the national archives, Radio Riyadh, and Radio Jeddah.

“Through the evolution of its digital archives and the software supporting it, SBC is creating a valuable and readily available historical resource for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said NETIA, area sales manager, Middle East and Africa, at NETIA. “We look forward to working further with SBC and First Gulf in optimizing, centralizing, and managing Saudi Arabia’s audiovisual assets on a nationwide level.”

More information about NETIA and its product portfolio is available at www.netia.com.

About NETIA

NETIA is a leading provider of software solutions that enable efficient management and delivery of audiovisual content to today’s full array of media platforms. Relied on by more than 15,000 users in 200 installations in more than 40 countries, NETIA solutions allow content producers and owners to manage content from ingest to delivery, targeting multiplatform outlets including the Internet, VOD, IPTV services, and mobile devices.

NETIA provides radio automation, media asset, and workflow management solutions to major radio and television brands and to multimedia groups around the world. Clients include RAI Italy, RTL France, Radio France, RTBF in Belgium, the Associated Press, ABC News Radio Network, All India Radio, WestwoodOne, Radio Globo in Brazil, SBS and ABC in Australia, MediaCorp Singapore, and France Televisions. NETIA has its headquarters in France, with offices in the United States, Paris, Rome, Moscow, and Singapore, in addition to a global network of professional distribution partners.